Think About It

I will try not to bore you with all the thoughts and experiences of the last several days, but I did want to mention a couple of things.   First, thank you to everyone who encouraged me and our family during my stay in the hospital.   Your words of kindness and encouragement meant (and continue to mean) a lot to us! Also, as I look back on my surgery, one of the things seems to stand out to me is the peace I felt going into it.   I am sure that a part of my relaxation had to do with how quickly they pumped the drugs into me, but I am mindful of another moment that set the tone.   In my pre-op visit with my surgeon I asked him if he saw anything in my situation that caused him concern – to which he responded that he did over 200 of these surgeries in the past year, he wasn’t worried!   I can’t tell you how relieved I was to hear this.   His history produced a trust for me that made the whole experience much more peaceful. As I thought about this little ...

I was reading John 14 the other day and saw something that I had never really noticed before.   Now, I have to tell you that I have John 14:1-3 on several occasions, including at a lot of funerals, but never really felt comfortable with its continuity.   No, the issue wasn’t with the message Jesus was providing, rather it was in the way it was written in English – it just didn’t “flow” very smoothly.   As I was trying to wrap my mind around the grammar of the verse, I was struck by something even more important.   When Jesus was preparing His disciples for His departure He said, “ In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.” (John 14:2).   As I looked at this verse from a bit of a different perspective I noticed that Jesus was not only promising hope for the future, but also staking His reputation on the truthfulness of His claims.   He was not a dreamer, He was not a ch...

I was visiting with a couple of friends that other day when the discussion turned to dealing with an interesting Old Testament passage.  Proverbs 26:4-5 notes, “Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will also be like him.  Answer a fool as his folly deserves, that he not be wise in his own eyes.”.  A superficial reading of this passage may prompt us to want to ask Solomon, “What should we do with fools – challenge them or not?”.   Over the last couple of days I have pondered this quote it and it has given me an interesting thought – maybe this issue isn’t the foolishness of the person, rather in how we deal with them.  Yes, we should address folly and foolishness, but we must do it in a proper way.  In essence, we shouldn’t be foolish in addressing fools.  I don’t know about you, but there have been too many occasions when I have allowed myself to get sucked into insignificant discussions about things that weren’t worth my time....

         Last November, Polly Crews passed away at the age of 93 years old.  On the surface there isn’t really much newsworthy in this observation – but, it is what lies beneath the story of the Crews family that is remarkable.  Prior to her death Polly was recognized as the oldest living “Gold Star Mother” in Florida.  If you aren’t familiar with this organization – it has one of the toughest initiations – you become qualified for a Gold Star Mother when you lose a child in battle.  Unfortunately, Polly’s initiation was paid on May 22, 1969 when her son, Robert, was killed in Vietnam.          I have been blessed to know the Crews family most of my life.  They have been special to us throughout the years for a variety of reasons, but there are two that stand out to me:  The first is service.  Bobby’s death In Vietnam was the result of a seed that was planted in the Crews children early in their lives....

As Jesus prepared His new disciples for their work in the world, He reminded them that just being on “Team Jesus” wasn’t going to be enough for them.  In laying the foundation for His people He warned, “ Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.” (Matthew 7:21).  Merely claiming to follow Jesus wasn’t going to cut it – they were going to have to be accountable to His standards.  As we look around at the world today, we can see a tendency for some people who claim to have a relationship with Jesus to preach a message that is not in line with the words of the Master.  They call themselves “Christians”, but their message does not mirror The Christ.  Whether it comes from a malicious intent or unintentional error, we must make sure that we do not follow or propagate their misleading message.  Following Jesus previous warning He went on to note, “ Many w...

The other day I was listening to a friend of mine doing a sermon based on the story of the healing of the blind man in John 9.  Among one of the many points brought out in the lesson was the concept that I may have been looking, but I haven’t been seeing all that I could have been seeing.  When we look around at the world, what do we see?  Basically, we tend to see what we expect to see – what we have trained our eyes to perceive.  For too many of us what that means is that we see the bad, the negative, the troubles and trails.  Yet, what would happen if we began to refocus on what we might be able to see:  the good, the positive, the blessings.  How many incredible things could we have seen if we just would have been looking for something different? Folks if you are anything like me you have probably seen enough bad stuff to last us the rest of our lives.  Think of the joy that we could experience if we just changed what we wanted to see!...

I have had the opportunity to attend a few funerals over the past several days.   (Well, I guess it is more appropriate to call them “memorials” or “celebrations of life” these days.)   As I reflect on these events it has caused me to ponder how I would like to be remembered when I die.   Whether we like it or not we will all eventually die and just about every one of us will be the focal point of some type of memorial service.   The issue is what theme will be promoted when we pass?   Will we be known for doing things our own way?   Will we be recalled as the clown of the party – someone who lived fast and loose?   Will we be mourned because the world has lost a righteous person who left a trail of goodness wherever we went?   The interesting thing about this thought is that it will have less to do with how we died and more to do with how we lived.   Sure, there can be tragic circumstances surrounding a death, but the essence of our influen...